Slavery in Muslim history lasted much longer than the Atlantic slave
trade - although slavery had existed in many cultures long before
Islam.
The Muslim slave trade from Africa seems to have enslaved roughly
similar numbers (estimates vary between 11 and 14 million Africans) to
the Atlantic slave trade, and the transportation conditions endured by
victims of the Eastern trade were probably justas horrible in their
own way as those of the Atlantic slave trade.
One poignant fact is that when the Atlantic slave trade was abolished
the Eastern trade expanded, suggesting that for some Africans the
abolition of the Atlantic trade didn't lead to freedom, but merely
changed their slave destination.
Slavery played a significant part in the history of Muslim
civilisation, but it was a form of slavery that was inherently
different from the 'slave trade' inthat the Muslim concept of slavery
regarded those enslaved as people who had some, albeit fewer, human
rights that must be respected.
What was notably different fromthe slavery of the western
world,however, was the degree to which they [slaves] were protected by
Muslim law. When the law was observed, their treatment was good. They
mightexpect to marry and have families of their own, and they had a
good chance of being freed. There were also built in avenues of
escape.
Gwyn Campbell; Frank Cass, The Structure of Slavery in Indian Ocean
Africa and Asia, 2004
But even though slavery under Islam could be significantly less harsh
that that of the Atlantic slave trade, both involved serious breaches
of human rights and restricted liberty. However well they were treated
the slaves still had restricted freedom, and when the law was not
obeyed their lives could be very unpleasant.
The relationship between slave and master in Islam is a very different
relationship from that between the American plantation labourer and
owner. It was a much more personalized relationship and relatively
benevolent. Everything here is relative -- being a slave is being a
slave and it shouldn't be romanticized.
Ronald Segal, interview with Suzy Hansen in Salon magazine, 2001
Here are some of the main differences between Muslim slavery and the
Atlantic slave trade:
*. The Atlantic trade lasted from the 15th to 19th centuries, the
Eastern trade from the 7th or 9th century to the 20th
*. Under Islam slaves were considered people first, and then property.
In the Atlantic trade slaves were considered property not people, and
often just regarded as units of productive labour
*. Islamic law laid down considerable protection for slaves; those
taken for the Atlantic trade had very little protection
*. Islamic law only permitted those conquered in legitimate warfare to
be enslaved, all other methods being illegal - although this was often
ignored - whereas the Atlantic trade enslaved anyone who had
commercial value
*. In Islam, slave-owners were forbidden to take young children from
their mothers, something common in the Atlantic trade
*. The owner-slave relationship could be kinder in Islam than in the
Atlantic trade, and often more personal
*. Islam recommends the freeing of slaves in itself as a 'good'
religious act and says that slaves who convert to Islam should be
freed. Zakat (the requirement for charity) was used by Muslim states
to free slaves. There were many other avenues whereby a slave couldbe
freed, for example as expiation for irregularities in other religious
rituals; as a result many more slaves were freed than in the Atlantic
trade
*. Under Islamic law a slave couldtake his/her master to the Islamic
courts to address a grievance, and the judge had the right to grant
freedom against the master's wishes and/or other compensations; there
was no such protection for slaves taken by the Atlantic trade
*. Islam permitted slaves to attainhigh office; those taken for
theAtlantic trade stayed at the bottom of society *. In the Atlantic
trade there weretwo males to every female; in the Islamic trade, there
were two females to every male
*. Islam permitted women to be enslaved for sexual purposes, although
not for prostitution
*. Africans were enslaved in the Atlantic trade to work on an
industrial scale in agricultural labour; in the Islamic trade they had
a far wider variety of roles
*. The Atlantic trade only involvedblack Africans; Muslim slavery
involved many racial groups
*. Slavery in the Atlantic trade was highly racist, something
prohibited in Islam where there was much less institutionalised
racism. Both masters and slaves had a wide range of colours and
backgrounds;
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